Lore for July
Title: Dante History X
Part 3
The next morning Katalina, Simon and I went through the TP network to one of the Resa areas… That was where the rumor had started…
We appeared in a Resa camp … Despite the union that had lately been between the factions, the people of the camp looked at us badly … some Resa spat as we passed, and others looked us in the eyes while their hands went to the butts of their pistols…
Even so, we saw that Simon was a well-known member of his faction, and nothing bad was going to happen to us… We approached one of the largest buildings, which we assumed was his headquarters.
After identifying ourselves and leaving all our weapons at the entrance, Katalina, Simon and I went to a kind of room where several Resa were working on the screens of their terminals … Simon went to one of them.
-Hey Michael, is Derek in his office?
-Hi Simon… I see that you bring animals to the barracks - he said as he looked at us askance.
-Come on Michael, they are friends and trustworthy … tell Derek to go out, we should talk to him.
This Michael looked at us wearily, pressed a key on an InterCOM and, seconds later, he told us to go to the background.
After a short wait, an old Resa appeared in the doorway, glanced at us, and spoke politely to Simon, who made the appropriate introductions… Derek was apparently a highly respected leader of the Resa.
-Simon and … friends … what brings you to this area? - He asked as he looked us up and down.
-Derek, we are behind a certain rumor about a crazy settler who …
-Wow, Simon !!! Interested in that crazy Stel? Derek looked at Simon amused.
-Well, rather my friends are interested, as you can imagine …
-What an element that guy was … he appeared in a camp to the south, totally famished and disturbed … he didn’t seem to know anything or anyone … he was screaming and howling, and saying strange things about robots and a building…
Simon and I looked at each other … we had no doubts … that madman was Desmond … In that case, he survived the pyramid’s enclosure and the metal armor did not interfere with the Revives … Or maybe yes, and his mind was a chaos. Fortunately, no one would believe his ravings even though deep down they were true. Simon kept asking Derek.
-And what happened to that Stel? Where is?
-Well, this … the boys thought he was making fun of them, so they gave him a “special treatment”, you know … they touched him only a little, besides, he was just a damn Stel … but he was really crazy or traumatized by something … - Derek looked at us trying to justify himself …
-Well, in that case we come to take him away … these Stel friends will take care of him.
Derek looked at Simon intensely… it seemed like he was going to say something, but he didn’t get to say it… what was he hiding?
-Derek … tell me that Stel is alive … -Simon looked at Derek in a threatening way …
-This … That Stel is not in custody now … a couple of days ago he escaped …
We looked at each other in amazement … that damn Desmond is more elusive than an octopus … to know what he would be doing now … and if he keeps talking about the pyramid and the robots … well, the secret of the planetary TP must remain a secret…
Lore for July.
Title: Dante History X
Part 4
When we left the Resa building, the three of us felt lost: Desmond had returned, although apparently insane, he was talking about the Planetary Teleporter, the pyramid and the robots, and now he escapes and we do not know where he can be or what he can do.
-Dante, you know Desmond… where could he go in his current state? - Simon asked.
-Well, the faction was his life … he would go back to the VIP headquarters … but with his mind shattered, anyone knows …
Simon was an old dog … something was on his mind …
-And if he wasn’t as crazy as we think? - Simon said, looking into the distance, as if deep in thought of him.
-What are you trying to say, that he faked his madness? Katalina voiced my own thoughts.
-I don’t know … maybe it’s that I’m bad thought … What happened to the VIP Stel when they saw that Desmond didn’t come back? - Simon said
-Well … some of them asked me a series of strange questions … I felt observed more than once … I was on alert for a while, although the VIPs who were investigating me were a few … Remember that it seems that the information from the Planetary TP was something secret , and only a few Stel were aware of it …
-Then, he can’t go around telling anything about the TP, or ask for help from all the Stel, unless only those who were in the secret … - Simon was right …
-But at the moment it doesn’t seem like he has contacted them …- I said doubtfully.
-Well, we also know that Desmond had a boyfriend. -said Katalina
-That’s right … Well … in that case … maybe he would like to contact his boyfriend … Mark, one of the Stel … he’s not a VIP yet, although many of us thought that being Desmond’s partner would help him …
-Then it’s easy - Katalina said - we’ll have to watch Mark in case Desmond gets in touch with him.
-Okay, we can take turns following him to see if he gets in touch with Desmond …
Simon was still thoughtful … he was an old bulldog, and he wanted to have all the options covered …
-What if he didn’t want to be seen together now? Where could they be seen or hidden? -It was a very timely question.
-Well, it’s an open secret that Desmond and Mark loved to frequent “some places” of Ancient Greece, when they weren’t on missions … -Katalina had a mocking tone in her voice …
Suddenly, Katalina and Desmond’s eyes locked on me … No, wait, I don’t think they’re trying …
-Dante, I think the short Greek robes should fit you very well … you are also very attractive … -Simon seemed about to burst with laughter …
I knew … I had to spy on Mark, and if he went to Ancient Greece to one of the places he liked to frequent, well …
For several days we followed Mark … I even talked to him making me the buzzword … after the past months, he had begun to accept that his partner was not coming back, that something bad had happened to him and he had not appeared in any Revive …
I honestly think it was a waste of time to follow up. From what I could see, Mark was already dating other people, and his life was normal enough, so the most likely thing is that Desmond had not shown any signs of life …
How wrong I was…
Lore for July
Title: Dante History X
Part 5
One afternoon I was doing business with some settlers, selling some vehicles when I got a call from Simon.
-Dante, can you talk now?
-Simon, tell me … I’m closing a business with some clients …
-Dante, drop everything and go to Orpheu’s Cave NOW.
-What happened, Simon? Any problem?
-Dante, Mark left his house a few minutes ago, totally disheveled, running … he went to a TP and dematerialized … fortunately I have a friend in maintenance, and he showed me the registry of DNA fingerprints on TPs … he went to Ancient Greece …
-Well, Simon, he still wants to go for drinks to “those places” that he likes so much …
-And why was he running with his face as if he had been given unexpected news? … Dante, let’s go to Ancient Greece now …
Simon was right … Mark was a very calm person, so if he was running and looking like someone who has seen a ghost, it is that something had probably happened to him … For example, that his boyfriend whom he thought was dead months ago has appeared …
I closed the deal, fired my clients and went quickly to a TP… on my way to Ancient Greece…
I wasted no time warning Katalina, and that was a mistake that I must now deeply regret …
Simon and I appeared in Orpheu’s Cave in Ancient Greece … using the maintenance key that his friend had given him, he read the arrivals record on the TP terminal … Mark had gone to Thebes …
Once there, Simon and I scoured the area… to avoid problems and not be easily detected, we bought some chitón and continued with the search.
In the distance we saw the unmistakable figure of Mark … we followed him through the alleys until we got close to the blacksmith’s house … we looked around a corner and saw them …
Mark was desperately hugging a very thin and very dark Simon from spending many days in the sun … The scene was beautiful if it weren’t because Simon had been about not only to kill us, but to betray the whole planet … We tried to listen to the conversation, but they spoke very quietly, it was an intimate moment between them …
A few minutes later they separated and began to speak something louder … it was no longer the intimate moment of two people who love each other and thought they were lost forever … Now the voice denoted anger, and we could hear everything …
-Listen Mark, there is a lot at stake in all this … We could have been rich, but that stupid Dante and his dog Resa almost finished me.
-Dante … I saw him for days and we talked … Damn traitor … even he asked me about you … We must inform the faction that …
-No, Mark, no … this only belongs to three VIPs and me, we cannot alert the faction … We must get rid of Dante and his friends in a discreet way, do you hear me? Forget that you are not in the PVP zone, you have to eliminate them …
I started to lean a bit more to hear them better when suddenly I stepped on a branch at the foot of the wall of the house … the creak alerted the couple, who looked in our direction … Gods !! They had seen us …
-Simon, you have to get out of here … or fight. -I said while drawing a Chikara Oni-Roku CDF Edition …
Simon looked at me, pulled out an Armatrix, and we stepped forward as our armor materialized around us …
The crossfire was brutal … the four of us were under cover and the shots were lost between the stones … we were tied …
Suddenly, we heard a great detonation and part of the roof of the house where we were under cover gave way on us … a huge stone hit me in the helmet and everything went black …
When I opened my eyes, with a great ringing in my ears, I could not believe what I was seeing… Next to me was Simon with his eyes wide open staring at the sky, with a big shot hole in his neck… dead? He has not revived? What?
-Well, well, what do we have here? It was fortunate that those stones had fallen on him, otherwise he would have escaped. -The one who spoke thus was a Hoplite, undoubtedly one of the Pentesílea Queen’s guards … and behind him, several more hoplites with their spears ready …
I looked confused at my hand … The Chikara was still there … and the hole in Simon’s neck had the characteristic shape left by the shots from said weapon … It can’t be, I haven’t killed Simon … Damn Desmond, what have you done ???
-In the name of Queen Pentesílea, you are arrested for murder!!!